Music-box



(No Model) I J. BORNAND. MUSIC BOX.

No. 574,299. 711;. Patented Deo; 29, 1896.

WITNESSES: IEVENTQR 1mm M- in, M I t h UMA M ATTORNEY? v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. v

JOSEPH BORNAND, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

MUSIC-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 574,299, dated December 29, 1896.

Application filed May 22, 1896. Serial No. 592.618. (No model.) A

To all whom it vim/y concern:

Be it known that I, J OSEPH BORNAND, a citizen of the Republic of Switzerland, and a resident of New York city, New York, have invented Improvements in Music-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

In music-boxes of that class in which the musical tongues of the comb or reed are vibrated to give the notes by means of starwheels operated by traveling tune sheets there have been two ways of constructing and arranging the sheets in relation to the starwheels. In one case sufficiently deep or long projections have been formed on the under side of the sheet to permit the rotation of the star-wheels upon fixed axes without coming into contact with the main body of the sheet; but such long projections are apt to get broken. To meet this difficulty it has been common to perforate the tune-sheets, allowin g the teeth of the star-wheel's to enter the perforations, but in such case it has been necessary to allow a vertical motion to the starwheels to permit the imperforate part of the tune sheet to conveniently pass over the wheels; but this increases the cost of construction and renders the operation of the music-box unreliable. To meet these difiiculties, I mount the star-wheels on fixed axes and construct the tune-sheets with short proj ections and adjacent perforations and so construct the hearing-piece for the star-wheels that the tune-sheet will be supported at such a distance from the axes of the star-wheel that the unperforated parts of the sheet can pass over the star-wheels, while the appropriate tooth of any wheel will be caught by the short projection, and as that wheel is thus turned the tooth will pass up into the perforation adjacent to the said projection.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the main parts of a music'box embodying my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views, drawn to an enlarged scale, showing a star-wheel and tune-sheet in example, two sets of reeds R and R, mounted in any suitable way upon the base 13 and having between -them thebearing-piece F, which carries the star-wheels S to act upon the tongues of the reeds. These star-wheels are mounted upon fixed axes Ct in slits, Figs. 2, 3, and 4, in the bearing-piece F. I A single rod may serve as the axis for each row of starwheels. Those parts of the bearing-piece F which lie between the several star-wheelslits, Fig. 4, extend to such a point as to constitute bearing-ribs f for the imperforate parts of the tune-sheet P. When a star-wheel is in the position of inaction, Fig. 2, the teeth of the star-wheel do not extend beyond the bearing-face of the piece F; but as the wheel is turned the uppermost tooth will in its movement from one position of rest to the next extend beyond the said bearing-face, as shown in Fig. 3.

I prefer to mill out the star-wheel slits at the bearing-face of the piece F, so as to produce grooves f each a trifle wider than the slit, or, in other words, than the thickness of the star-wheel. On the tune-sheet I form a short tooth or projection 19, adjacent to a perforation 19, Figs. 2 and 3, wherever a starwheel is to be turned to strike a reed-tongue to produce a note. These projections 19 and perforations 13 may be formed or produced in any suitable way. A convenient method will be to bend the projection 19 up out. of the metal of the sheet at the same time that the perforation p is cut, as the drawings indicate, but I do not wish to confine myself as to this.

Assuming that the teeth of the star-wheels are made only of about such a length as the proper action of the tune-sheet thereon requires, the projections 19 will extend from the under face of the tune-sheet and into the grooves f about half the length of a star- Wheel tooth, while the other half of the tooth will project into and through the perforation p as the moving tune-sheet rotates the starwheel, as shown in Fig. 3. The projection 19 is sufficiently long to catch the tooth of the wheel as the part of the tune-sheet moving in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 2, comes up to the wheel, yet the projection is sufficientl y short to prevent its being broken off, more especially as a part of thethrust is within the plane of the body of the sheet. As the latter bears upon and is supported by the bearing-piece F and the projections 12 are guided in the grooves f in which the upper teeth of the appropriate star-wheels lie, and as the axes of those wheels do not have any rising or falling movement, it will be evident that I have a construction which is not only simple, but is strong and not liable to get out of order.

I claim as my invention- 1. A music-box having a comb and starwheels in combination with a traveling tunesheet and a bearingpieee having its bearingface for the tune-sheet extending beyond the teeth of the star-wheels when the latter are in their positions of rest, substantially as described.

2. A music-box having a comb and star wheels in combination with a traveling tunesheet having short projections and adjacent perforations and a bearing-piece having its bearing-face for the tune-sheet extending beyond the teeth of the star-wheels when the latter are in their positions of rest, but the teeth of the star-wheels extending beyond the said bearing-face as the wheels are turned substantially as described.

3. A music-box having a comb and starwheels in combination with a traveling time sheet having projections, and a bearing-face for the tune-sheet and groovesf into which said projections of the tune-sheet pass, sub stantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

J OSEPll. BORNAN'I).

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. FULLER, HUBER'I I-Iowson. 

